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• Three Kingdoms 365

  [Day 148] The River-Crossers

  At dawn on the last of the three days during which twenty-four thousand had crossed the river, Liu Bei (劉備) dismounted at the shallow waters of the southern bank. His horse's four hooves sank into the mud. The water rose to the belly of …

  Yeon Samheum, the Commentator · 2026/10/20 20:10

  
• Three Kingdoms 365

  [Day 147] The Fire You Leave Behind

  On the night of the third day, the twenty-four thousand people of Xinye (新野) at last crossed the southern river. At the hour when the last person stepped upon the far bank, the oil lamp in the west room of the magistrate's office at Xiny…

  Yeon Samheum, the Commentator · 2026/10/19 20:10

  
• Three Kingdoms 365

  [Day 146] The Emptied City

  A month had passed since Kongming (孔明) took his seat upon the cushion at Xinye (新野); it was early autumn. In the seventh month of the autumn of Jian'an 13 (208 CE), the great army of Cao Cao (曹操) in the north at last began to move so…

  Yeon Samheum, the Commentator · 2026/10/18 20:10

  
• Three Kingdoms 365

  [Day 145] A Greeting Beneath the Banner

  Three days after the fire at Bowang had died out, Kongming (孔明) arrived for the first time at the magistrate's office at Xinye (新野). The afternoon sun had just begun to tilt west. Beneath the banner before the north gate of the office,…

  Yeon Samheum, the Commentator · 2026/10/17 20:10

  
• Three Kingdoms 365

  [Day 144] Fire in the Reed Forest

  A month and a half later, on an afternoon in the late summer of Jian'an 13 (208 CE). The reed forest north of Bowangpo (博望坡) was already turning yellow. The forest Guan Yu (關羽) had inspected a month earlier had proven thicker than exp…

  Yeon Samheum, the Commentator · 2026/10/16 20:10

  
• Three Kingdoms 365

  [Day 143] The First Plan Shared

  On returning from Wolonggang (臥龍崗), Liu Bei (劉備) that very night hung the map on the wall of the west room in the magistrate's office at Xinye (新野). The map was five chi wide. Hung at the center of the wall, it brought the room's ai…

  Yeon Samheum, the Commentator · 2026/10/15 20:10

  
• Three Kingdoms 365

  [Day 142] Three Slices of the World

  Under the afternoon light, the three slices of the five-chi (尺) map grew clearer by one measure. Kongming (孔明), with the tip of his fan, placed a dot upon each slice in turn. The three dots were each a different color. At the center of …

  Yeon Samheum, the Commentator · 2026/10/14 20:10

  
• Three Kingdoms 365

  [Day 141] A Map of Five Measures

  On the morning after the third stride, Kongming (孔明) opened before Liu Bei (劉備) a paper map five chi (尺) wide. The map followed the same composition as the three strands drawn upon the earth of the yard yesterday. Only now, upon the p…

  Yeon Samheum, the Commentator · 2026/10/13 20:10

  
• Three Kingdoms 365

  [Day 140] The Courtyard of the One Who Waits

  On the morning after the third gate had opened, Liu Bei (劉備) and Kongming (孔明) continued their conversation upon the stone in the yard at Wolonggang (臥龍崗). The first brief exchange had been about "the difference between a name and a…

  Yeon Samheum, the Commentator · 2026/10/12 20:10

  
• Three Kingdoms 365

  [Day 139] The Third Door

  On a morning in the new spring of Jian'an 14 (209 CE), three horses stood again before the brushwood gate of Wolonggang (臥龍崗) in Nanyang (南陽). Liu Bei (劉備) was not yet at the threshold of fifty-nine, but in the spring of his forty-e…

  Yeon Samheum, the Commentator · 2026/10/11 20:10